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(No Model.)

G. MEYER. STATION INDICATOR. No. 470,135. Patented Mar. 1, 1892.

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UNTTED STATES PATENT EEICE.

GOTTFRIED MEYER, OF IIORGEN, SVITZERLAND.

STATlONlNDlCAToR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 470,135, dated March 1,1892.

Application tiled April 27, 1891. Serial No. 390,598. (No model.)Patented in Switzerland March 20, 1891, No. 3,074; in France March 20,1891.110. 212,228; in Belgium March 20, 1891, No. 94,225; inAustria-HungaryMarch 20l 1891, No. 14,320 and No. 33,844; in Italy March31,1891, XXV, 29,326, LVII. 466, and in England April 2, 1891, No.5,675.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, GOTTERIED MEYER, a citizen of the Republic ofSwitzerland, and a resident of Horgen, in Switzerland, have invented newand useful Improvements in Station-indicating Apparatus forRailway-Carriages, (for which l have obtained patents in the followingcountries: in Great Britain, No. 5,675, dated April 2, 1891; inSwitzerland, No. 3,074, dated March 20, 1891; in France, No. 212,228,dated March 20, 1891; in Italy, R. G., XXV, 29,326, R. A., LVII, 466,dated March 31, 1891; in Belgium, No. 94,225, dated March 20, 1891, andin Austria-Hungary. No. 14,320 and No. 33,844, dated March 20, 1891,) ofwhich the following is a specitlcationl Travelers in railway-carriagesoften iind it impossible to learn in good time and in an unmistakablemanner the names of stations through which the train passes eitherbecause the names are not exhibited at all or are exhibited indistinctlyor because they are only that there is often insufficient time allowedfor making the necessary preparations for leaving the carriage. lt oftenhappens, too, that the station at which the traveler desired to alightis passed unobserved.

The object of this invention is to avoid these inconveniences and maketraveling in railway-carriages much more comfortable.

. The invention relates to apparatus by means of which after passing astation the name of the next succeeding' station is made known to theoccupan-ts of the railway-carriages.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of theindicating apparatus. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 isa plan of the operating projections between the rails.

In a frame or box a, tted in one of the walls of the railway-carriage,two drums 1 and 2 are mounted so as to be capable of rotating. These canbe revolved by means of the small friction-wheels 5 and 6 in eitherdirection by a small chain-wheel 3, which, with a frictionwheel 4, isfixed upon an axle b, iitted in the side of the carriage. Upon the twodrums l and 2 a iiexible band is coiled in such a manner thataccordingly as the chain-wheel 3 is turned in one or the other directionthe'tlexible band win ds upon the drum l and unwinds from the drum 2, orvice versa. Upon the flexible band the names of the stations upon theline are printed or painted on one side only when the apparatus isfitted at the end of a carriage or on both sides if the apparatus isfitted in the compartment-wall, so as to serve for the occupants of twocompartments of a carriage.

By means of mechanism hereinafter described acting upon the chain-wheel3 the two drums 1 and 2 are at the time of passing or after passing astation rotated, so that the iiexible band is wound upon one drum andunwound from the other to the extent required to exhibit at an openingmade in the cover of the frame or box c the name of the followingstation. The friction-wheels 4, 5, and 6 are provided with india-rubbertires to insure a regular rotation of the drums. The drums 1 and 2 areprovided at both ends with friction-wheels, so that after turning acarriage upon a turn-table it is only necessary to reverse the frame orbox ct in order that it may still indicate the names correctly.

Under the ioor of the railway-carriage an axle c is provided, upon whicha chain-wheel p 7 is ixed intermediately between two ratchet-Y wheelsSand 9. The two ratchet-wheels 8 and 9 are rigidly vconnected with thechainwheel 7 and have ratchet-teeth set in opposite directions. vliththese ratchet-wheels the pawls 10 and 1l engage, projecting one fromeach extremity of the horizontal arms CZ of the T-lever d c, and areurged by springst' and k against the teeth of the ratchet-wheels. lf theend e of the T-lever d e be moved by passing over the projection fn.,Fig. 2, the pawl l0 will rotate the ratchet-wheel 9 and the chain-wheel7 attached thereto, communicating a movement in the same direction tothe` small chain-wheel 3, which is connected by an `endless chain withthe chain-wheel 7. If the ende of the T-lever d c be moved in theopposite direction, the pawl l1 and the ratchetwheel 8 come into action,communicating to the chain -wheels 7 and 3 a corresponding movement inthe opposite direction.

The effect of the springs g and h is to bring IOO the arm e of theT-lever (l c back to thc vertical position after each operation.

To operate the end cof the T-lever cl e in one or the other direction, Iprovide a stop n, set between each pair of rails at the forward end ofthe stat-ion, over which the end e of the T- lever passes, rocking thelever in a direction opposite to that in which the train moves. Everytime a carriage fitted with the apparatus hereinbefore described passessuch a stop n the drums l and 2 are turned sufciently to exhibit at thelongitudinal opening in the frame or box u, the name of the followingstation. Suppose, for instance, the train arrives from C in the stationA, Fig. 3, the end c of the T-lever CZ @will have passed over a stop nwhen leaving the station C and the indicator therefore shows the name ofthe station.

At the entrance to the station A there is a stop n for operating theT-lever Cl e of trains passing in the opposite direction from A toward Cfor indicating the name of the station C. In order to avoid putting theindicating apparatus in motion in trains moving in the direction C A bythe stop n at the entrance to the station A, so as to indicate by errorthe station B before leaving the station A, the stop n is made in twoparts a' and n2. These two parts 'n' and n2 can turn on pinsp and q,being normally held by springs in position against stops 0 0, allowingan opening to be made in one direction only. Vhen the end e of theT-lever d e passes the stop n in the direction C A, inasmuch as thesprings of the parts 'n' and n2 otter but a feeble resistance and thatthelever is sut'liciently maintained by the springs g and h, the parts'n' and n2 are readily separated in the direction of the small arrowsand the lever passes through without operating the indicating mechanism.As the train proceeds, its movestation B.

arriving from B opens the stop n, formed of` the parts n and n2, theindicating apparatus remaining inoperative, 'while in moving in thedirection from A toward C the indicating mechanism is operated and thestation C is indicated.

For unimportant stations a fixed stop n is sufficient, preferably placedabout midway in the station. the next succeeding station is at onceindicated, and while the train remains in the station the variousindicators show either the station at which the train has arrived or thenext succeeding station, according to the position of the carriage vwithregard to the stop n.

That I claim, and desire to secure by lietters Patent of the UnitedStates, is-

l. Apparatus for indicating names of stations in railway-carriages,consist-ing of a T- lever held vertically underneath the carriage bysprings g h, yielding to allow the T-lcvcr to be vibrated in eitherdirection to operate pawls l0 or 11 for rotating ratchet-Wheels S or 9to give motion in one or the other direction to a chain-wheel connectedby a chain with a chain-wheel 3, upon the axle of which is afriction-wheel to engage with the friction-wh eels 5 and 6 of the drumsl and 2, carrying the band upon which thc names of the railwaystationsare successively recorded, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

2. A device for operating station-indicating mechanism, consisting of astop formed in two parts, constituting a barrier, of which the two partscapable of turning upon pins near their extremity open readily in onedirection and close by means of springs against stops which prevent themfrom opening when urged in the opposite direction by the operating-leverof station-indicating apparatus carried upon a moving` train,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof have signedthis speciication in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

GOTTFRIED MEYER.

'Vitnesses:

EDR. WALDKIRCH, F. HANDENscHILn.

When a carriage passes over it,

